The January 2001 AusBG "Battle of the Bowning Sea".
January 26th - 28th 2001
Saturday Afternoon.A Huge Brawl Develops.Soon after the start of the afternoon battle a huge dogfight developed involving all the armed warships except the USS Alabama and HMS Invincible. Graf Spee concentrated on the Allied merchants and blew a hole in the bridge of the SS Hornet, while the other warships concentrated on each other. USS Indiana and USS South Dakota isolated and crippled VNS Strasbourg. Cut off from her port by the two Sodaks her skipper, Bill Kirwan, beached her on one of the islands in a desperate attempt to save his vessel. Unfortunately the bank was steep and she sank by the stern, which just her bow remaining on dry land.The battle only started to wind down when Brett Farquharson launched
the unarmed IJN Mogami on a convoy run. At 37 knots she was the
fastest vessel afloat on the Bowning Sea and she could show her
heels to each and every Allied warship. Unfortunately Brett took
her too close to the pump intake on her first circuit of the course
and she jammed her rudder with moss. She started to circle the
pump intake at speed and the furball dissolved as everyone stopped
to watch. As she had passed the USS Houston she had collected
some holes high on her Starboard side. With her rudder jammed
hard over and travelling at top speed her heel put these holes
underwater and she slowly rolled further and further till she
hit the pump intake and went down. Nevertheless, she had out lasted
USS Indiana.
USS Indiana Is Lost.In the meantime, USS Indiana has set off to beseige the Axis port when it was noticed she was getting quite low in the water. She turned back and struggled to get home before going down. She was so heavy with water at this point that the SS Rusty Oak, a tramp freighter, overtook her in the run for home (USS Indiana is rated for 27.5 knots, the Rusty Oak for just 22). Indiana almost made it. She was just feet from home when her bow struck the submerged pipe leading out to the pump intake. She would normally have cleared this easily, but normally she was not half full of water. Mark backed her off to try again, while the Houston chased off Richelieu who had come into play. Moving further out from shore, Indiana tried again and again she struck, her forecastle dipping under now. Again she backed off but it was too late, her lack of a pump
was her undoing and she sank, a boat length from home.
Alabama And Littorio Fight It Out.Strasbourg is sunk, Indiana is lost as well. Richelieu is crippled while Houston and South Dakota are seriously hurt. All bar Littorio retreat to port as USS Alabama launches. Littorio hunts Allied merchant ships while Alabama pursues and, when the two battleships meet, battle is joined at very close quarters. Both battleships' guns get hooked up on the other's deck and
can do little to harm each other's hull. For their superstructure
it is a different matter. Locked together they both run aground
as Alabama blows in Littorio's 'B' barbette. Combat continues
and Littorio blows the guns off Alabama's 'X' turret. Soon there
after, Littorio's 'B' turret explodes as her BDE cannon disintegrates.
(BDE have now supplied a replacement free of charge). Littorio
retires leaving Alabama the only armed ship on the Bowning Sea.
Two Minutes From Launch To Loss - The Sinking Of The SS Tokyo Rose And SS Ellie Sue.All Axis warships are now off the water and USS Alabama is standing guard off the Axis port as the Allied merchants set forth in numbers. South Dakota soon joined Alabama off the Axis port and their skippers moved behind a large tree near the Axis launch ramp, hoping not to be seen. Soon enough two Axis merchants launched, "Tokyo Rose" and "Ellie Sue". They seemed oblivious to the presence of the Allied battleships and the total lack of Axis escort. As soon as they were away from port the Allied battleships split, USS South Dakota chasing the merchants away from port, USS Alabama circling behind the island off the Axis port to cut the merchants off. The ruse worked, as Tokyo Rose showed no sign she saw the Alabama approaching on a reciprocal course, so focused was she on the South Dakota snapping at her heels. Alabama passed within inches of the Tokyo Rose and when she fired there was no mistaking a hit had been made. The Tokyo Rose quickly settled and went down. Ellie Sue had turned to port after leaving the Axis harbour and was circling the course in the opposite direction to that taken by the ill fated Tokyo Rose Maru. South Dakota disappeared, standing back to let the Alabama and her rookie skipper get a clear shot. Approaching from the aft quarter, Alabama opened fire with her guns at 11 o'clock as she closed, without apparent affect. Turning hard to starboard Alabama slipped in next to the Axis tanker and fired another broadside. Ellie Sue's float flew off and a technical timeout was called to allow the problem to be fixed. Before anyone could reach her she went down bow first in 17 feet of water, without a float in sight. Less than 2 minutes had passed since Ellie Sue and Tokyo Rose
had set sail.
Recovery operations for the Ellie Sue took some time, eventually a pole with a grapping hook was used to drag for her and she was recovered after about 1/2 an hour of searching. There were two holes in her stern which had put her under - likely from the Alabama's first shots. The float line was securely wrapped around her propellers and there was not a mark on the float itself - it had simply been blow off by the muzzle blast of the Alabama's cannon. The Tokyo Rose was far more easily recovered, but had much worse damage. She had a substantial rip in her skin, but the damage went further. A corner had been removed from her blast shield. Her pump hose had been knocked back inside the vessel - and a substantial section of her cap rail has been disconnected from the hull along her port side. Tokyo Rose would never sail again for the Axis. Bill, her owner, selling her on to an Allied merchant mogul. How she is reborn is yet to be seen. The Rest Of Saturday.That was about it for Saturday. Houston, Alabama and South Dakota waited and waited for more Axis shipping to appear, but they never did. Allied merchant ships carried out run after run. Eventually the battle was called off an hour early for lack of any Axis vessel willing and able to sortie. All the Allied skippers hoped Sunday would see a more sustained
Axis effort.
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